The Autistic Wizard
by tired mommy
Summary: Jacob Frank is a muggle-born wizard who was diagnosed with severe autism. Could Hogwarts accommodate him and help him overcome his challenges?
1. Chapter 1

Two-year-old Jacob Frank looked at the light in the waiting room and flicked his fingers. He felt tiny sparks leave his fingers and head towards the light. He let out a squeal of excitement and tried the light again from a different angle. Once again, he flicked his fingers and felt the sparks. Jacob didn't realize that some of the staff at the developmental pediatrician's exchanged knowing looks. He didn't notice that he was the only one who felt the sparks. When he left the developmental pediatrician's office an hour later, he wasn't aware that he was now labeled autistic.

Two years later, Jacob sat with his mother in the headmistress's office. He was scheduled for an interview in a special school. The headmistress asked Mrs. Frank if Jacob knows his colors. When she responded that he does, she asked him to say the color of each shape on a page in a book. Jacob looked at the book and said, "Yed, boo, nee, we-ow, urry, nee, poo-poo, bat, noun, white." The headmistress asked Jacob to say the shapes. Jacob said, "Coocoo, cawe, tian, retan, obu, art." The headmistress then asked him to name the letters on the page. After Jacob finished, the headmistress commented that he's very smart, but his speech is very unclear. She then took out a book with pictures and asked Jacob to point to the foot. Jacob started to point, but felt a spark come from his finger and burn a hole in the page. He immediately stamped it out with his bare hand and ripped the page to hide evidence of the hole he assumed would be there. All of a sudden, the room flipped over. Mrs. Frank and the headmistress did not seem to notice, but Jacob was suddenly aware that he was standing on the ceiling. He quickly flipped himself upside down.

"Does he do that often?" the headmistress asked.

"It helps him regulate," Mrs. Frank explained.

"I see he can't point," the headmistress commented.

"It's difficult for him," Mrs. Frank said. She turned Jacob right side up so he can continue his interview. Jacob still felt the world spinning and bit his mother in frustration. When he did not release his bite, Mrs. Frank held his nose, forcing him to open his mouth.

"I don't think we're equipped for Jacob," the headmistress said. "His speech is so unclear, he has lots of sensory issues, and he is lacking basic skills. What other schools did you apply to?"

Mrs. Frank mentioned several special ed schools including one ABA program.

"I think the ABA program is the best one for him," the headmistress said. "He really needs to learn lots of basic skills before he could start an academic program. He also needs a really good speech therapist. If I didn't see the colors, shapes, and letters, I wouldn't know what he was saying."

Jacob started crying and didn't stop until a while after he got home. After that day, he stopped speaking unless he really needed something. He was no longer happy and carefree and gave his ABA teachers in his new school a hard time. He was still going through a difficult time seven years later when Professor McGonagall came to his house to inform his family that Jacob is a wizard.


	2. Chapter 2

Professor McGonagall looked at the tall gate. She noticed barb wire on top of the fence and wondered if it was there to keep intruders out or to keep a certain person in. She always found it awkward having to tell parents that their child is a wizard and seeing a barb wire fence with multiple locks made her wonder what this family is like. She noticed a buzzer on the door and pressed it.

"Who is it?" a female voice called out. There was a child crying frantically in the background.

"My name is Professor McGonagall. I'm here to discuss your son Jacob."

Professor McGonagall heard a series of clicks followed by a buzzing sound. She pushed the door and walked up the driveway. There she saw a house with bars and alarms on all the windows. The porch was fenced in and there was a lock on the door. Professor McGonagall was thinking that this house resembled a jail when the door opened, and a tired looking woman stepped out holding hands with a screaming child.

"Come in," Mrs. Frank said. "I'm just about to change Jacob's nappy."

"Jacob wears nappies?" Professor McGonagall asked with a shocked expression on her face.

"Only when he does number two," Mrs. Frank answered over Jacob's persistent wailing.

"Should I wait in a different room?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"If you'd like, you could wait in the kitchen. I'm in the middle of preparing dinner but had to stop to clean Jacob," Mrs. Frank explained.

Professor McGonagall looked around the kitchen. Like the outside of the house, it had its own gate, but the gate was open. There were locks on the fridge, freezer, oven and the knobs to the stove. After a minute, Mrs. Frank returned to the kitchen with a crying Jacob. She sat Jacob down on a chair and gestured toward another chair for Professor McGonagall.

"As soon as I finish preparing dinner, we could speak outside," Mrs. Frank said. "I can't outscream Jacob, and he's upset I made him come inside to prepare dinner."

As she spoke, Mrs. Frank opened a can and poured its contents into the pot on the stove. She put a cutting board and some vegetables on the table and reached for a knife. As she was walking towards the table with the knife, Jacob leapt up from his chair and scratched his mother's arm.

"I'm holding a knife, Jakey," Mrs. Frank said. "You need to be careful."

She started dicing the vegetables as Jacob crawled through her legs and around to Professor McGonagall's chair. He continued crying as Mrs. Frank turned towards the stove to add her vegetables to the pot. As soon as his mother's back was turned, Jacob focused on the stranger sitting at the table. He reached up and grabbed her hair with both hands.

"What are you doing?" Professor McGonagall yelped.

Mrs. Frank ran over and untangled one hand from the professor's head. She asked Professor McGonagall to hold the free hand while she untangled the second hand. As soon as both hands were free, Mrs. Frank told Jacob to do his crying in another room as the kitchen was full. A minute later, Mrs. Frank and Professor McGonagall heard Jacob howling from the next room.

"So, what did you want to discuss about Jacob?" Mrs. Frank asked as she finished preparing dinner.

"Is he always like that?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"No, but he needs to get out," Mrs. Frank said. "Let's continue this conversation outside. Summer holidays is messing up Jacob's schedule."


	3. Chapter 3

"Jacob, we can go outside now," Mrs. Frank called. Jacob ran to the door. The second it was open, he ran out and stopped crying. He ran to the next gate and waited.

"Is the security to keep others out or to keep Jacob in?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"It's to keep Jacob in but it doesn't work," Mrs. Frank explained. "During the day, Jacob knows he can't get away with running out, but at night when I'm sleeping, he leaves the house. The police and social services are driving me crazy, but I'm doing everything I can to keep Jacob safe. Somehow he gets through all the security."

"How does he do that?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I don't know. He must have some secret talents," Mrs. Frank said.

"Do you think he's using magic?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I may be getting an average of three hours of sleep a night for the last eleven years, but I don't think I lost my sanity yet," Mrs. Frank said.

"What do you mean?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Are you trying to convince me that magic exists?" Mrs. Frank responded.

Immediately, Professor McGonagall vanished and in her place stood a small cat. Mrs. Frank screamed and jumped back. Jacob ran to the cat and tried grabbing it around its middle. Professor McGonagall reappeared as the cat vanished.

"I must really be sleep deprived," Mrs. Frank said.

"That may be true, but I'm deputy headmistress of a school of magic, and I came to offer Jacob a place in the school," Professor McGonagall explained.

"Are you saying that all children with autism are magical?" Mrs. Frank asked.

"What's autism?" Professor McGonagall wanted to know.

"That's the name of the disability Jacob has," his mother explained.

"I never heard of it before," Professor McGonagall said. "I don't think there was ever an autistic wizard."

"Do you think you would be able to handle Jacob in your school?" Mrs. Frank asked.

"Probably not," Professor McGonagall said.

"Well then, it was nice meeting you," Mrs. Frank said. "I'll walk you to the gate."

"I'll discuss Jacob's situation with the headmaster and get back to you," Professor McGonagall said.

"If you let me know when you're coming, I'll leave the gates unlocked," Mrs. Frank said.

"Does next Tuesday evening at eight work?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Yes, I'll see you then," said Mrs. Frank.


	4. Chapter 4

Professor McGonagall walked into Professor Dumbledore's office and said, "We need to talk."

"What's the problem?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Did you ever hear of autism?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"I may have heard of it, but I don't know what it is," answered Professor Dumbledore.

"It may be best if I share my memory of what happened when I went to offer Jacob Frank a place in our school," Professor McGonagall said. She removed the memory from her head and showed it to Professor Dumbledore.

After viewing the memory, Professor Dumbledore said, "This boy already has some control over his magic. He is using it to run away at night. It's not fair to his parents if we don't take him in. They can't tell the muggle police that their son is a wizard. I think we both need to spend the next week reading everything we can about autism."  
"But we can't have a student who still wears nappies," Professor McGonagall insisted.

"We could appoint a house elf to be in charge of Jacob's daily care. Right now, I want to find out more about what autism is," Professor Dumbledore responded.

A week later, the two professors walked up to the Franks' house. Mr. and Mrs. Frank both came to the door to let the professors in. After everyone introduced themselves, they sat down in the living room where Jacob was playing with his toys.

Professor Dumbledore looked at the Franks and said, "I just spent a week reading everything I can about autism and have come to the conclusion that when you meet one autistic person, you met one autistic person. No two people are the same, so maybe you could tell me about Jacob."

Mrs. Frank began slowly. "Every person gets stressed out by different things. Some people have a higher level of stress tolerance while others have a lower level. Each person handles stress in their own way. Some ways of dealing with stress are considered socially appropriate while some aren't. We're not so concerned about being socially appropriate. When a person is too stressed, sometimes the brain shuts everything out as a coping technique."

"How about we talk about Jacob?" suggested Mr. Frank.

Mrs. Frank continued. "Jacob is a delightful child. What you saw last week is not typical behavior. He was very tired after having two all nighters in a row, and he is off schedule since there is no school. Ninety percent of the time, Jacob is a happy, giggly, loving child. In many ways, he is like a baby; however, he has all the stereotypical autism behaviors. He flaps his hands, flicks his fingers, spins, makes noises, etc. He can be very manipulative. He pretends not to hear if what is being said isn't what he wants to hear, but if someone mentions food, Jacob responds immediately. When he chooses not to cooperate, he will not cooperate no matter what. His school report when he was five starts with the sentence 'Jacob appears to be untreatable.' He isn't untreatable; he just chose not to cooperate that year. Also, his speech is very unclear. I understand him without a problem, but most people don't. Because Jacob is aware that most strangers will not understand him, he doesn't waste time and energy talking to people who have not yet earned his trust."

"I wonder if we could help him with that," Professor Dumbledore said. "May I try something?"

"Of course," said Mrs. Frank.

Jacob has just arranged some toy figures and was sitting next to them flapping his hands and flicking his fingers. Professor Dumbledore asked the Franks if those figures have any special names.

"The red one is Elmo and the blue one is Cookie Monster," Mr. Frank said. "Those are his two favorites."

Professor Dumbledore sat on the floor next to Jacob. "Wow, Elmo and Cookie Monster look so happy standing over there," he said.

Jacob turned his back on Professor Dumbledore and looked at his mother. "Oscar," he said.

Mrs. Frank walked to the toy box and withdrew an Oscar figure. "Here he is," she said handing over the toy. Jacob looked at Oscar and put him back in the toy box.

"Is there a reason Oscar is banished to the toy box?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"On the TV show, Oscar lives in a garbage can so Jacob will never stand him directly on the floor," his parents explained.

Meanwhile, Professor Dumbledore took a small piece of wood out of his pocket. He pointed his wand at it and flicked a few times before passing it to Jacob.

"You can use this to help you talk," said Professor Dumbledore. Jacob pressed random letters. As soon as he stopped pressing buttons, his voice came out of the piece of wood saying the nonsense syllables that he spelled. Jacob laughed and tried again. He kept trying different combinations and laughing at the sounds. Finally, Professor Dumbledore took it away from him.

"I think this is too advanced," he said. "Let's try something else instead." He pointed his wand at the wood. It turned into a mirror. After a few flicks of the wand, he passed the mirror to Jacob. Jacob looked in the mirror, flicked his fingers, and flapped his hands.

"I look cute," the mirror said in Jacob's voice.

"How did that happen?" Mrs. Frank wondered.

"I put in the mirror the ability to read Jacob's mind. In my readings on autism, I read that people with autism think in pictures. What this mirror does is it reflects the thoughts into words."

"Dum-ble-dore," the mirror said. "Dumb means not smart. Bull is an animal. Door is what we walk through."

"Maybe its best if not all thoughts are said aloud," Mrs. Frank suggested.

"The trick is to guide his conversation while he is using his mirror," Professor Dumbledore explained. "I'll show you."

He sat down next to Jacob and said, "What do you do in school?"

Jacob looked in the mirror and the mirror said, "I eat cookies, potato chips, popcorn, and pretzels."

"Do you do anything else?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"I go on a swing and play in the gym," Jacob answered via the mirror.

"Do you learn anything?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"I don't know what learn means," the mirror responded.

"Your mother was telling me about your autism and what things are easy or hard for you. Do you want to participate in this conversation?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Why are you talking about me?" Jacob asked with the mirror.

"Because I want you to come to my school next year, and your parents don't know if we can teach you."

"Does your school have good food?" Jacob asked.

"We have lots of good food," Professor Dumbledore answered.

"Do you have cookies?" Jacob asked.

"We have treacle tarts. They're even better than cookies," Professor Dumbledore told him.

Jacob put down the mirror and hugged Professor Dumbledore.

"I think he's convinced," Professor Dumbledore laughed. "Now it's time to work on your parents."

He turned towards Mrs. Frank. "Can you continue talking about Jacob?"

"I mentioned his speech difficulty," Mrs. Frank said. "You seem to have that under control. There are other issues. Jacob doesn't usually sleep much at night."

"Why is that, Jacob?" asked Professor Dumbledore.

Jacob looked in his mirror. "I wake up and can't fall back asleep," the mirror said.

"There are potions that could help with that," Professor Dumbledore said.

"I don't want to give any medicines to Jacob that may have side effects. He does not take any medication on a regular basis," Mrs. Frank said.

"These potions don't have side effects and can be used on an as needed basis," Professor Dumbledore said. "Continue telling me Jacob's issues."

"Jacob could be violent at times," Mrs. Frank said. "He pulls hair, scratches, bites, kicks, and pinches."

"Why do you do that?" Professor Dumbledore asked Jacob.

"It feels good," Jacob said via the mirror. Professor Dumbledore flicked his wand at the mirror. Long hair came out at one end while soft skin attached itself to the other.

"Now you can pull hair, bite, scratch and pinch without hurting anyone," Professor Dumbledore told him. "What other issues do we need to work on?"

"Jacob is obsessed with food," Mrs. Frank said. "He takes other people's food, eats out of garbage cans, off the floor, and any food he sees. He eats more than me and my husband together at meals."

"Well, in Hogwarts, he can eat all the food he wants. There are no food shortages," Professor Dumbledore explained. "What other concerns do you have?"

"Jacob has some issues with his number two," Mrs. Frank said.

"I read about that in some of my readings," Professor Dumbledore said. "I would love to hear the explanation to this behavior, and I believe that now we could. Jacob, what's your problem with number two?"

"It feels yucky," Jacob said. "Like lots of worms or ants crawling out of my bottom. When I try to stop it with my hand, I get yucky stuff all over my hand, so I wipe it on whatever I see. Mummy doesn't like when I make a mess like that so instead I poop in a nappy."

"I'll appoint a house elf to take care of your personal needs," said Professor Dumbledore.

"What's a house elf?" asked Mrs. Frank.

"It's like a magical servant who is happy to do whatever you ask," Professor Dumbledore explained. "What other concerns do you have?"

"When Jacob starts crying, he doesn't stop," Mrs. Frank said. "Professor McGonagall got a small taste of it last week."  
"Well, not that he can speak more, maybe that won't be an issue," Professor Dumbledore said. "Any other concerns?"

"Jacob doesn't like wearing clothes. It's a fight to get him dressed in the morning," Mr. Frank said.

"Our house elf can work on that," Professor Dumbledore said.

"The classes will be way above Jacob's level," Mrs. Frank observed. "He can't even read or write."

"Most of the classes are practical, doing spells," Professor Dumbledore explained. "Considering that Jacob is so good at charming his way though locked doors and windows, I don't think the actual spell work will be hard for him. If any particular class is difficult for him, he can drop the class and have a one on one session with me instead. If he ends up dropping all classes, I will send him home and assign a tutor, but I think Jacob has lots of magical potential and will do well."

"Can we see the school?" Mrs. Frank asked.

"I'm afraid not," said Professor Dumbledore. "You need to have magic to be able to see it."

"Then how will he get there?" Mrs. Frank asked.

"There is a train that leaves from Kings Cross Station on September 1st. It goes straight to Hogwarts. I will have the head boy and head girl escort him the whole time," Professor Dumbledore said.

"I'm still not so sure about this," Mrs. Frank complained.

"I am," said Mr. Frank. "I haven't had a good night sleep in eleven years, so even if Jacob gets kicked out after a week, I'll still have a week's worth of sleep to function on."

"Here is a list of school supplies with directions on how to get them," Professor McGonagall said while handing over a packet. "You won't be able to see the store you need, but Jacob will."

"I really don't like this," Mrs. Frank said.

"I'm afraid you're outvoted," Professor Dumbledore said. "I'll have Jacob's house elf give you weekly updates on how Jacob is doing." He gestured for Professor McGonagall to follow him and the two of them apparated out before Mrs. Frank could finish voicing her complaint.


	5. Chapter 5

Mr. and Mrs. Frank looked at the book store and record store. They knew that there was supposed to be a pub in between and that only Jacob would see it.

"Do you see it Jacob?" Mrs. Frank asked anxiously.

Jacob walked over to the door of the pub and opened it. Mr. and Mrs. Frank followed him in, checking the directions that Professor McGonagall left them.

"It says here that we are supposed to ask for Tom, and he will show us how to get into Diagon Alley," Mr. Frank said.

"Is that your Hogwarts packet?" Tom asked while walking over to them.

"Yes, but I'm really not sure this is the right choice," Mrs. Frank said while maintaining a tight grip on Jacob.

"So this little guy is a wizard?" Tom asked.

Jacob flapped his hands and flicked his fingers in excitement. Tom led them into Diagon Alley and wished them luck.

"Maybe we should split to save time," Mrs. Frank suggested. "I'll take Jacob for his uniform and wand while you buy the books and supplies."

"First we need wizard money," Mr. Frank reminded his wife. They walked into Gringotts and had to physically stop Jacob from grabbing the goblins. Mrs. Frank ended up holding Jacob while Mr. Frank dealt with the money. He handed some wizard money to his wife and they made up to meet at the ice cream store when they finish their tasks.

Mrs. Frank held Jacob's hand while walking into Madam Malkin's store.

"Hogwarts?" they were asked upon entering.

"Yes, this is his first year," Mrs. Frank answered. Jacob did not want to stay still while being measured. Madam Malkin worked fast, recognizing that she was with a child with a short attention span. Next, they went to Ollivanders for a wand. Jacob picked up the first wand he was offered and put it in his mouth. He took it out and spit out a ball of fire. Using the wand, he directed the fire towards the ceiling before making it explode into fireworks.

"Looks like he has the right wand," Mr. Ollivander said. "Try to keep it out of your mouth."

Jacob was excited to eat ice cream. He behaved the rest of the time in Diagon Alley. The next obstacle would be the Hogwarts Express.

On September 1st, Mr. and Mrs. Frank stood between platforms nine and ten while holding Jacob's hands. A boy and a girl walked over to them, each wearing a badge. One said head boy while the other said head girl. "Is this Jacob?" the head girl asked.

"Yes," said Mrs. Frank. "Here is money for the food trolley."

"That's a lot of money just for snacks," said the head boy. "How much should we buy him?"

"I'm expecting to pay for damages," Mrs. Frank said.

"We'll keep him under control," the two teenagers assured the anxious parents.

"Bye Jakey, be good in school," Mrs. Frank said while hugging and kissing him goodbye.

Jacob walked into the first car of the train with the head boy and head girl. They were soon joined by all the prefects.

"Who's the midget?" Percy Weasley asked, looking at Jacob curled up in a corner seat.

"This is Jacob Frank," the head girl announced. "We obviously don't know what house he will be in, but whoever has him should be ready to help him in every way possible. Jacob has a disability called autism that makes it hard for him to talk to people, take care of himself, and control his behaviors."

Jacob watched everyone sit down. The seats were okay, but not as soft as Jacob liked. He decided to try out some laps instead. Unfortunately for him, not everybody likes having a cute little eleven-year-old sitting on his lap. Some of the prefects didn't mind while others did. Jacob stayed on each lap until he was asked to move, either immediately if the prefect did not want him sitting there, or after the lap owner started complaining about her legs falling asleep. Eventually, Jacob fell asleep on Penelope Clearwater's lap. Percy Weasley picked him up and lay him down across three seats.

Jacob woke up when the food trolley came to the car. He immediately ran to the cart and grabbed several chocolate frogs which he popped into his mouth at once.

"You need to pay for it, dear," the trolley lady said.

"I have his money," the head girl said. "His mother lets him get whatever he wants and gave me more money than she expects to pay."

Jacob grabbed more food and stuffed it in his mouth. He tried taking food from some of the prefects, but they were able to block him. Instead, he grabbed a handful of hair. The head boy calmly handed Jacob his mirror and told him to use that instead. Jacob sat silently playing with his mirror until the others announced it was time to put on school robes. Jacob continued sitting quietly. The head boy reached into his trunk and took out his robes. He carefully lifted Jacob to his feet and got him dressed. Jacob looked around curiously as the train pulled into the station. He saw lots of people getting off the train and decided not to join them. The head boy and head girl each took one of his hands and led him to a huge man who was saying, "First years, over here!"

"This is Jacob Frank," they said, handing Jacob over.

"You stay with me," the big man said. "You'll go in my boat while we go up to the school."

Jacob did not notice everyone oohing at their first sight of the school. He did not respond when Hagrid told him to bend down. He sat looking around, trying to figure out if he did the right thing by agreeing to go to Professor Dumbledore's school. Before he knew it, they reached the school.


	6. Chapter 6

Hagrid gripped Jacob's shoulder as he led the group of first years to the castle. He knocked on the door. Professor McGonagall opened the door.

"Here are the first years, Professor," Hagrid said. "And here is Jacob Frank."

"Thank you, Hagrid," Professor McGonagall said. "I have him now."

Hagrid let go of Jacob's shoulder and walked away. Jacob stood rubbing his shoulder and looking around while Professor McGonagall spoke about something. There was so much to see that he was able to completely block the professor's voice.

"I will come back when they're ready for you," Professor McGonagall said. "One minute, I told Mrs. Frank that Jacob will never be left unattended. Miss Weasley, can you pick a friend to help you watch Jacob until I'm back?"

Ginny gestured towards a friend and they each stood on one side of Jacob. Professor McGonagall walked back to the great hall.

"You're parents must be overprotective," Ginny said.

Jacob didn't answer. He was still busy looking around. All of a sudden, he saw something so exciting! There was a bunch of see through people coming! Jacob wondered if he could walk through them. He ran towards them but was held back by two sets of hands.

"I'm sorry, but we told Professor McGonagall that we will watch you until she comes back," one girl said.

"Let go!" Jacob yelled. When they didn't, he looked in his mirror.

"I just wanted to play with the ghosts," Jacob heard his voice say.

"Hey!" said a boy. "That's so cool! Your voice is coming from the mirror! How did you do that?"

"Professor Dumbledore made this for me. My parents didn't want me to come here since I have autism and it's hard for me to talk, so Professor Dumbledore made a mirror that reads my thoughts aloud. I just have to remember not to look in it while thinking something private," Jacob explained.

"I never heard of a wizard having autism," the boy said.

"I never knew I was a wizard," Jacob responded.

"Are you also muggle born? My name is Colin Creevey by the way," the boy said.

"What's muggle born?" Jacob asked.

"It means that your parents aren't magical," Colin explained. "Professor McGonagall had to come to my house to tell my parents about Hogwarts."

"She came to my house too," Jacob said. "Except that my mother didn't believe her so she turned into a cat and my mother-"

Professor McGonagall reappeared suddenly, interrupting the conversation.

"Form a line and follow me," she said holding Jacob's hand as she walked into another room.

Jacob thought about how he just had a real conversation with a classmate despite the fact that he didn't open his mouth once. All he had to do was look in a mirror! He wondered if he would finally find out how it feels to have a friend.

When they reached the great hall, Jacob looked around. Once again there were many things to see. A singing hat, the sky (or was that the ceiling?), tables, lots of people, hair, etc. He just stood and stared as one at a time; a student would wear a hat and listen to what the hat said.

"Frank, Jacob," said Professor McGonagall.

Jacob continued standing and watching the room. The two girls who watched him earlier pushed him forward. Professor McGonagall took his hand and led him to the stool. She placed the hat on his head.

"Interesting," said the hat. "I don't know where you belong. You could be extremely brave at times, but other times, you are a coward. You have a sharp mind, but you don't know how to speak, read, or write. You love your mother, but you beat her up daily, so Hufflepuff is out. You do have ambitions, but you lack the courage to act on them. I guess we're safest with RAVENCLAW."

Jacob sat quietly on the stool listening to the hat.

"You could take me off now," the hat said.

Professor McGonagall lifted the hat off Jacob's head. Professor Flitwick took Jacob's hand and walked with him towards the Ravenclaw table. Penelope stood up and guided Jacob to a seat. Jacob sat quietly and watched the rest of the sorting. When the sorting was finished, Professor Dumbledore said something and food came on the table. Jacob grabbed the plate of food closest to him and started eating.

"That's the serving plate," Penelope explained. "I'll put some of each food on your plate, and you can eat what you want."

Jacob ate quietly for a few minutes, ignoring the conversations going on at his table. After a while, he felt an unpleasant sensation and stood up. He ran away from the table with Penelope running after him. A tiny creature with big ears ran over to him and grabbed his hand.

"I'll help you, master Jacob," the creature said. "I'm your house elf for today. Come with me."

Jacob walked with the house elf to the kitchen. He really wanted to be alone but didn't know how to say so. He remembered his mirror and looked at it.

"I need to poop," his voice said.

The elf took him to a bathroom.

"I can't do it! It's going to hurt," the mirror cried.

"I'll put a numbing potion on you first. That should make it easier," the house elf said.

After a few minutes, Jacob was finished in the bathroom. It only took two seconds for the house elf to clean him with a cleaning spell. It was much easier than the torture he puts his mother through at home every day. The elf led Jacob back to his table.

"Any time you need me, just call," she said. "My name is Nikki."

Professor Dumbledore started to speak again. When he finished, everyone started singing. It sounded so awful that Jacob covered his ears. When he realized that everyone was singing the same words to a different tune, he took his hands off his ears and laughed until everyone was finished. After the song, everyone stood up. Penelope took Jacob's hand and walked with everyone from their table to a room. The boys went up one flight of stairs and the girls went up another. Jacob sat down on his bed. Nikki put on his pajamas and Jacob fell asleep.

A few hours later, Jacob woke up. He opened the window and stuck a leg out. He was about to stick his other leg out, when Nikki ran into the room.

"Master Jacob," she yelled. "You is getting Nikki in trouble! I need to watch you and keep you safe, so don't jump out any windows!"

She tucked Jacob in and gave him a glass of warm milk.

Jacob tasted it and said, "Syrup".

Nikki said, "I don't know what you want. Use your mirror."

Jacob looked in his mirror and said, "I want it to be chocolate milk."

Nikki gave Jacob a cup of hot cocoa and left the room. A half hour later, Jacob tried climbing out the window again. Once again, Nikki stopped him, gave him a cup of hot cocoa, and tucked him in bed.

Jacob waited a half hour before trying again. He realized that Nikki knows when he goes out the window, so he decided to try the door this time. He was just about to walk out when he heard someone call him. He turned and saw one of the girls who stopped him from playing with the ghosts.

"Hi!" the girl said. "I'm Luna Lovegood. Where are you going?"

"I can't sleep," Jacob said via his mirror.

"Where were you going to go?" asked Luna.

"Outside," Jacob said.

Just then, the door opened and Professor Dumbledore walked in.

"Nikki said you keep getting out of bed," Professor Dumbledore scolded.

"I can't sleep," protested Jacob.

"Come to bed, and I'll give you a sleeping potion," Professor Dumbledore said. He turned to Luna. "Thank you for stopping him," he said.

After taking the sleeping potion, Jacob slept peacefully the rest of the night.


	7. Chapter 7

Jacob ate his breakfast quietly. The other Ravenclaws were talking, but Jacob didn't pay any attention to anything besides his food. Professor Flitwick gave out schedules, but Jacob didn't bother taking his, as he couldn't read it anyway. He walked with Luna to his first class, History of Magic.

Jacob sat down quietly and lost himself in his thoughts as Professor Binns rambled on. After a while, it occurred to Jacob that Professor Binns is a ghost! He eagerly stood up and ran through Professor Binns. It felt like taking a cold bath, except that he was still dry. He ran through Professor Binns a second time before returning to his seat.

"Frank, what are you doing?" Professor Binns asked.

Jacob picked up his mirror and said, "Frank isn't here. He works at the bike shop."

"Mr. Frank, what are you talking about?" Professor Binns demanded.

"Mr. Frank is my daddy. He's at work now," Jacob explained. "My name is Jacob."

Professor Binns mumbled something about being ready to retire before continuing his lesson.

After the lesson was finally over, Jacob walked with Luna to the next class, Charms. Professor Flitwick talked about something that Jacob didn't bother listening to. Finally, towards the end of class, he said they will practice levitation charms. Each student was given a feather. Jacob quickly levitated his into the air and walked it over to Professor Flitwick's head. After balancing it on his professor's head, he levitated Professor Flitwick up to the ceiling.

"One minute, Jacob" Professor Flitwick said calmly. "Let me do a cushioning charm in case you drop me."

Professor Flitwick then addressed the rest of the class. "Look at the concentration on Jacob's face," he said. "One needs to concentrate when doing charms. It is also important to use exact wand movements, which obviously comes naturally to Jacob. Normally, Hogwarts students don't do nonverbal charms until their sixth year, but because Jacob has been nonverbal most of his life, he does not need to worry about careful pronunciation of the spell. Nonverbal comes to him naturally."  
He then addressed Jacob. "Lower me carefully to the ground," he said. "I want everyone to see what care is needed to accurately perform charms."

Jacob carefully lowered Professor Flitwick.

"Now let's see you try someone heavier," Professor Flitwick said. "Any volunteers?"

Nobody volunteered.

"Class dismissed," Professor Flitwick announced.

At lunch, all the first years eagerly discussed Jacob's antics in both classes. Some of the older students wanted to be levitated, but Jacob was busy eating and ignored them. Some students were bothered at the way Jacob behaved with Professor Binns while others found it funny. They all agreed that Professor Flitwick was a good sport about allowing Jacob to show what he is capable of.

The next class was Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall talked about something before giving out matchsticks and asking everyone to turn it into needles. Jacob easily turned his into a needle and magically lifted it into the air. It looked boring. He decided that knives are more fun and transfigured it into a knife. He then transfigured Luna's matchstick into a knife and levitated it next to his own. He was about to transfigure another knife when Professor McGonagall interrupted him.

"I said needles, Mr. Frank, not knives," she reprimanded.

Jacob transfigured them back into matchsticks and put them back down. He looked in his mirror and heard his voice say, "My Daddy isn't here now."

"Okay, Jacob, I'll use your first name if I have to," Professor McGonagall sighed.

Jacob transfigured his matchstick into a needle again and levitated it. He tried to think what his mother would do with such a thing. A memory came to his mind. He transfigured one of the hairs from his mirror into thread and threaded the needle mid air. He then summoned a shirt and button from his room and magically sewed the button onto his shirt. The whole class stared at him in shock.

"Fifty points to Ravenclaw," Professor McGonagall said, "For pure entertainment and advanced magic!"

The students were all in great moods as they walked into the Potions classroom. Professor Snape talked about something. As usual, Jacob didn't bother listening. When it was time to make a potion, Jacob tried tasting the first ingredient.

"Idiot boy!" Professor Snape yelled. "Nothing should ever go in your mouth!"

Jacob picked up the next ingredient and brought it to his mouth.

"Enough already!" Professor Snape yelled. "Its not food! You could kill yourself. Do not put anything in your mouth. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Jacob whispered.

He partnered with Luna who read him all the directions. Together, the two of them completed their potion.

At dinner, the first years told everyone what happened in Transfiguration. Some older Ravenclaws wanted a demonstration while others were annoyed at the wasted time. In the common room that night, Jacob reluctantly repeated his spells. He levitated several older students and sewed on buttons midair. In exchange, anyone who wanted a demonstration had to read Jacob some of his course work for the next day's lessons. Most Ravenclaws were shocked that a student who can't read was placed in Ravenclaw, but they all agreed that Jacob's spell work was very advanced for his age.

That night, Jacob woke up around midnight and headed towards the window. He remembered that Nikki was alerted every time he had a leg out the window. He grabbed his wand and waved it over the window, hoping to remove any spell that would alert anyone to his escape. He then lowered himself out the window and headed towards the forest. As he was walking, he felt someone grab him from behind. He turned around and found himself facing Professor Dumbledore. Professor Dumbledore silently led him back to his dormitory and offered him a sleeping potion. When Jacob accepted, Professor Dumbledore said that from now on, a house elf will give him a sleeping potion every night. He will be excused from Astronomy class as he needs his sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Jacob ate his breakfast quietly before walking with Luna to his first class. He was relieved to see that once again he had Transfiguration. After watching him transfigure several objects into knives (not the assignment), Professor McGonagall admitted that Jacob needs more advanced work. She gave him a more advanced assignment and proceeded to teach the class what first years are supposed to learn.

The next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Lockhart gave out a quiz. Jacob looked down at his paper. Not knowing how to read, the quiz was completely useless. He waved his wand over it and watched it ignite into a ball of fire. He levitated the fire and danced it towards Professor Lockhart. Professor Lockhart screamed and backed into the corner. The fire followed him. He waved his wand and shouted, "Aguamenti!" Water squirted from his wand. The fireball ducked out of the line of water.

"Will someone please remove this fire?" Professor Lockhart asked.

Jacob reluctantly put out the fire.

"I knew how to do that," Professor Lockhart said. "I just wanted to see if anybody else knows how to."

Suddenly, Professor Lockhart was bound in ropes.

"Who is doing this?" Professor Lockhart asked.

The whole class looked at Jacob.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked.

Jacob picked up his mirror.

"Because you're a fraud," he heard the mirror say.

"You're the one with autism," Professor Lockhart commented. "I can cure you if you want."

The ropes suddenly jerked Professor Lockhart upside-down. A fire ignited at the end of the rope. Several house elves burst into the room followed by Professor Dumbledore. He immediately put out the fire, but left Professor Lockhart dangling upside-down.

"The house elves informed me that you lost control," Professor Dumbledore said to Jacob. "Can you explain what happened?"

Jacob took a deep breath before picking up his mirror.

"Professor Lockhart said he can cure me," Jacob said. "He's a fraud."

"I'll discuss your concerns with him," Professor Dumbledore said. "Class dismissed."

During lunch, all the Ravenclaws were talking about Jacob's performance in class. While the previous day led to lots of admirers, now students were getting annoyed with the constant time wasting. Most of the older girls especially thought that what Jacob did to Professor Lockhart was horrible. Only a small group of Ravenclaws still found Jacob's antics entertaining.

After lunch was History of Magic. Jacob walked through Professor Binns the first chance he had. After getting reprimanded, he sat down quietly and didn't interrupt for the next twenty minutes. Finally, Jacob felt he could sit no longer. He stood up and walked through Professor Binns again.

"Young man," Professor Binns said. "I told you that I don't find your behavior entertaining."  
"I don't find your class entertaining," Jacob said via the mirror.

"That's because you weren't listening," Professor Binns said. "Now stay in your seat or you will lose Ravenclaw five points."

Jacob reluctantly sat quietly for the rest of the lesson.

The last class of the day was Potions. Once again, Jacob tried tasting ingredients while making his potion. Once again, Professor Snape yelled at him. With Luna's help, Jacob produced a perfect potion for curing boils. Not wanting to get yelled at again, Jacob decided to ask Professor Snape before sampling his potion. He picked up his mirror, concentrating on sounding polite.

"Excuse me, Professor Snape," Jacob's voice asked. "Can I please sample the potion?"

"Why would you want to?" Professor Snape asked scornfully. "Do you have boils anywhere?"

"Possibly on my brain," Jacob answered.

For the first time since Professor Snape started teaching, he had to fight back the urge to laugh.

"Out of my class," he snapped struggling to keep a straight face. Upon noticing the hurt look on Jacob's face, he added, "Five points for a perfect potion. Just don't try sampling it again."

Eventually, all the Ravenclaws got used to Jacob. He no longer snuck out at night, thanks to the sleeping potion. He was obviously advanced at Transfiguration and Charms and was able to help older students with practical homework. Potions and Herbology were slightly more challenging as Jacob was not allowed to eat any ingredients or plants, but with Luna at his side, he was able to get top marks. He constantly annoyed Professors Snape and Sprout by asking if he can taste things. Professor Sprout took it in stride, reminding him patiently that not everything is meant to be eaten. Professor Snape did not exhibit much patience but had to admit that as long as Luna read the directions aloud, Jacob's potions were always perfect. History of Magic and Defense Against Dark Arts were the two classes that everyone wished Jacob would drop. He spent the whole class pranking his teachers. Some of the Ravenclaws started a petition to get Jacob moved to Gryffindor where his pranks would be more appreciated. They stopped when Jacob told them that the hat said he didn't have enough confidence for Gryffindor. The house elves took turns dressing and cleaning Jacob. Jacob continued using his mirror to communicate and started using it for words he can say himself. It just seemed so much easier than actually opening his mouth. Slowly, Jacob was accepted as a Ravenclaw, considered quirky, but not that much more quirky than Luna.


	9. Chapter 9

Jacob looked down at his plate. As usual, Penelope put a little of each food on his plate and told him to eat what he wants. Jacob thought about it. What he wanted to eat was ice cream, but there wasn't any on his plate. That shouldn't be a problem, he thought. Even before going to Hogwarts, he sometimes transfigured his ketchup to ice cream; he just didn't know what he was doing then. Now he does. He even has a wand to use. He pointed his wand at his plate and watched silently as all the food turned to ice cream.

"Hey, I want some!" a classmate said.

Jacob easily turned his food to ice cream too. Soon half the table was eating ice cream for dinner. It didn't go unnoticed at the head table.

Professor Dumbledore noticed it first. "I see Jacob is transfiguring everyone's dinner into ice cream," he said wryly.

"He really is good at Transfiguration," Professor McGonagall said. "I don't know what I'm going to do with him when he finishes the 7th year material."

"I have the same issue with charms," said Professor Flitwick. "He's a natural. He picks everything up so fast."

"That's because he already had control of his magic before starting Hogwarts," Professor Dumbledore explained. "Most students in this school are born to wizard families who monitor what their children do as far as magic is concerned. They allow them some control, but not too much. The muggle born children don't want to appear freaky, so they try not to show accidental magic. Jacob was considered strange anyway because of his autism, so doing magic didn't seem any stranger. He never tried to suppress it, and nobody tried to rein him in."

"I wonder if Ravenclaw is really the right house for him," Professor McGonagall said. "He would probably be best friends with the Weasley twins if he was in Gryffindor."

"The Ravenclaws actually started a petition to get him out," Professor Flitwick confided. "But Jacob told them that the hat said he didn't have enough confidence to be a Gryffindor."

The other staff members sat quietly listening to the conversation. They didn't see the genius that Professors McGonagall and Flitwick saw.

"I think I could cure him," Professor Lockhart said.

"Every time you suggested it, Jacob set you on fire. I don't think he likes that idea," said Professor Dumbledore.

Professor Snape was still thinking about that conversation when he taught Jacob's class the next day. Jacob looked excited when he heard they were making a forgetfulness potion. Jacob rushed through the potion without tasting any ingredients.

"Slow down, Jacob," Professor Snape told him. "What's your hurry?"

"I want to try the potion already," Jacob said through his mirror.

"Why would you want to be forgetful?" Professor Snape asked.

"There are lots of things I want to forget," explained Jacob.

When the potion was finished, Jacob tried tasting it. Professor Snape stopped him.

"You don't want to be forgetful," Professor Snape reprimanded.

"There are lots of things I want to forget," Jacob said.

Professor Snape looked in Jacob's eyes. Jacob did not look away, thinking he could convince Professor Snape. Looking through Jacob's eyes, Professor Snape saw Jacob's disastrous school interviews when he was four. He saw five-year-old Jacob sitting between his mother and grandmother while the grandmother tried to convince his mother to put him in an institution. That memory was so painful that Professor Snape pulled away.

"Let's discuss this tonight after dinner," Professor Snape said.

After dinner, Professor Snape escorted Jacob to his office.

"Do you want to tell me about these memories or do you want me to look the way I started to this morning?" Professor Snape asked.

"I'm not talking about it," Jacob said.

"May I look?" Professor Snape asked.

"Yes," Jacob said.

"Why are you using your mirror for yes and no? You say both words clearly by yourself," asked Professor Snape.

Jacob didn't answer. Professor Snape looked in Jacob's eyes. He saw the disastrous interview again, complete with the principal listing all of Jacob's shortcomings in front of him. He saw Jacob's grandmother trying to convince Jacob's mother to institutionalize him, saying that he will never amount to anything and he's an embarrassment to the family, all while Jacob was sitting in the room. Luckily, Jacob's mother did not take it too well. She yelled at the grandmother and threatened to put her in a nursing home so that she can't inflict permanent damage on Jacob. He saw a group of boys in a park, pointing to Jacob and laughing, calling him "That boy". Every time Jacob tried going on the slide, they all blocked him. He saw another park where a bunch of girls ran after him saying, "That's the boy who pulls hair." Some of them even got physical with him. He saw more run-ins with the nasty grandma. He saw Jacob in obviously soiled pants while a man (an uncle?) called him little doggie. He saw the petition being passed around the Ravenclaw common room requesting his removal. That was when Professor Snape made a difficult decision.

"You know, I was bullied too when I was your age," Professor Snape told him. "In fact, all seven years in Hogwarts, I was a target for bullies. I also have lots of painful memories, but now, as an adult, I'm a professor with a decent income. Two of the bullies are dead, one is in jail, and one can't hold down a job. I think that living well is the best revenge. When all the people who belittled you see how successful you will become, they will feel incredibly stupid for how they treated you."

"I won't be successful," Jacob said.

"Why not?" asked Professor Snape.

"I have autism," Jacob said.

"So what?" asked Professor Snape.

"Nobody will want me to work for them," Jacob said. "Besides, I can't read or write, and I can barely talk. I don't always understand people."

"Did you know that you are the most powerful wizard in the school?" Professor Snape asked.

"No, I'm not," Jacob said.

"So how do you do such advanced transfigurations and charms? Your professors said that you could do seventh year work already."

"Those things are easy," Jacob said.

"Not everyone thinks so," Professor Snape told him. "What's easy for one person is hard for another. Every person is different."

Jacob didn't say anything. Professor Snape decided to change the subject.

"I'm sure you heard about the chamber of secrets and the attack on Colin Creevey. Do you have any opinions about it?" he asked.

"I heard people talking about it," Jacob said.

"So what do you think it is?" Professor Snape asked.

"Sometimes I hear a hissing sound near the girls' bathroom on the second floor. The chamber must be in there," Jacob said. "But I don't really think about it much."

"Okay, let's end with a happy memory," suggested Professor Snape. "I will try to think of ways to help you, but I want you to be happy before you leave. Could you think of the funniest thing that ever happened to you? I need something to laugh at."

Jacob thought about a time when there was no ice cream in his house. He really wanted ice cream, but because he didn't have any, he decided to eat ketchup instead. He was holding the ketchup wishing it was ice cream, when it suddenly turned to ice cream. He ate some and put the rest in the fridge. His family had fish and chips for dinner and both of his parents like ketchup on their chips. Jacob started laughing when he thought of his parents' reactions to the ice cream in the ketchup. Professor Snape laughed too.

"Good night," Professor Snape said. "I'll see you tomorrow and try to come up with ideas to help you."


	10. Chapter 10

Jacob woke up at 3:30 am. His first thought was "Why isn't the sleeping potion working?" He then remembered sharing his memories with Professor Snape. The pain from those memories continued to haunt him. He walked to the window, thinking he would jump. He remembered that he always got in trouble for that, so decided to try the door instead. He walked to the door and remembered that he got caught leaving this way also. He went back to his bed.

"Could you stop walking around?" One of his roommates snarled.

Jacob sat on his bed and burst into tears.

"Oh, the little retard is crying," his roommates teased.

A house elf suddenly stepped into the room and tried giving Jacob his sleeping potion. Jacob shook his head no. The house elf took Jacob down to the common room where he was joined by more house elves.

"I'll get Professor Dumbledore," one house elf said.

"I prefer Professor Snape," Jacob said.

"Professor Snape doesn't like being woken up at night," the house elf explained.

A minute later, Professor Dumbledore was in the common room.

"I wanted Professor Snape," Jacob said.

"He actually requested a meeting with me first thing in the morning," Professor Dumbledore told him. "He wants to talk about you. I'll tell him what happened." Professor Dumbledore gave Jacob some more sleeping potion and carried him to his bed. He looked sternly at Jacob's roommates.

"I don't ever want to hear that the R word was used in reference to Jacob. He is the smartest student in the school, and the way you treat him is despicable."

Early the next morning, Professor Dumbledore met with Professor Snape. Professor Snape revealed why Jacob wants a forgetfulness potion. Professor Dumbledore filled Professor Snape in on what happened in the dorm. They asked Professors McGonagall and Flitwick to join them and filled them in on what's going on.

"Jacob doesn't even realize that he's talented," Professor Snape complained.

"We will have to praise him more," Professor McGonagall said. "I also think its time to introduce him to the Weasley twins."

"Did you know that the Ravenclaws made a petition to have Jacob removed from Ravenclaw?" Professor Snape asked.

"I'll talk to the Ravenclaws," Professor Flitwick said. "This behavior isn't acceptable."

"I'll get the Weasleys on his case," Professor McGonagall said. "Its too bad Jacob isn't in Gryffindor. They would enjoy his pranks."

At breakfast, Professor McGonagall walked over to the Gryffindor table. "Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley, may I speak to you for a minute?" she asked.

"Percy and Ron, Professor McGonagall wants to talk to you," George hollered.

"I meant you two," she said firmly.

"Oh, never mind! She means us for some reason," Fred hollered to his brothers.

"Don't worry you're not in trouble," she told them. The two boys followed her away from the table.

"I just want you to know that you are no longer the best pranksters in the school," she told them. "That title goes to a Ravenclaw first year."

"Would you like us to do more pranks?" Fred asked with a grin.

"If Jacob was in Gryffindor, his pranks would be appreciated more. The Ravenclaws have no tolerance for pranks and aren't very nice to him. I think it would be good for the two of you to befriend him," requested Professor McGonagall.

"What sort of pranks does he do?" George asked.

"Two nights ago, all the Ravenclaws ate ice cream for dinner," said Professor McGonagall.

"Hey, I want some ice cream," Fred said eagerly. "Where is he?"

Professor McGonagall pointed to Jacob and said, "The boy sitting between Miss Clearwater and Miss Lovegood."

Fred and George ran over to the table.

"Hey little guy," they said. "I hear you make a good ice cream!"

Jacob grinned and transfigured his breakfast. They looked at amazement as a plate full of chocolate ice cream appeared.

"Can I have some too?" George asked.

"Where is your plate?" Jacob asked.

"Hey, your voice came from the mirror!" Fred exclaimed.

"Professor Dumbledore made this for me so I could talk," Jacob said. "I have autism and it's hard for me to talk normally."

"We're in Gryffindor," Fred said.

"Where pranksters reign supreme," George added.

Jacob went with them to the Gryffindor table and transfigured their breakfasts into ice cream. He then walked back to his table and continued eating.

After breakfast, Fred and George went back to Professor McGonagall.

"What other pranks does the little guy do?" they asked.

"During which class?" she asked them.

"Potions," George said.

"Jacob is unique in potions in that he is the only student in the history of the school to make Professor Snape laugh. He and Professor Snape are very close, and Jacob will not prank him ever again," Professor McGonagall told them.

"Which teachers does he prank the most?" they asked.

"Professor Binns and Professor Lockhart," Professor McGonagall answered.

"Can we have the little guy's schedule?" they asked.

Professor McGonagall handed over a copy of his schedule.

"If you're going to call him out of class, you may want to know his name. It's Jacob Frank."

During History of Magic, Jacob was entertaining himself by throwing objects through Professor Binns. The door opened, and Fred and George stood in the doorway.

"Professor McGonagall would like to speak to Jacob Frank," they said.

Jacob gathered his things and left the room.

"Just joking," George said. "It's only us who want to have fun with you. Let me show you our common room where we prepare all our pranks."

Jacob followed them to the common room. Fred and George showed him various products and asked for advice on how to improve their inventions. Jacob hung out with them until lunchtime. At lunch, Jacob sat down at the Gryffindor table. Penelope Clearwater ran over to him.

"You're at the wrong table," she said. "You need to sit with the Ravenclaws."

Jacob reluctantly stood up and went to his table.

"We'll visit you again," Fred called.

"We'll kidnap you during class again," George added.

Jacob kept smiling to himself during lunch. He finally knew what it felt like to have a friend.


	11. Chapter 11

Professor Lockhart was rambling about his great accomplishments when Jacob began to lose interest again. With a flick of his wand, Professor Lockhart was once again bound in ropes.

"Release me," he yelled.

"First admit you're an imposter," Jacob said calmly.

"If you would know how to read, you would read my books and see that it's all true," Professor Lockhart said.

All of a sudden, he was dangling upside down from a nail that jutted out above the doorway. Just then, the door opened and Fred and George Weasley walked into the room.

"We came for Jacob," they said.

"What should I do with him?" Jacob asked the twins gesturing towards the professor.

"I wonder how he would look with pink hair," Fred said.

Jacob grabbed his wand and watched as Professor Lockhart's hair turned pink.

"Don't do that," Luna said. "You are encouraging the nargles to get him."

"What are nargles?" George asked.

"You don't want to know," one of the Ravenclaws said. "Between Looney and the retard, we have an unusual class."

"Nobody insults our friend and gets away with it," Fred snarled as a bucket of magenta paint suddenly spilled on the student.

"Where did the paint come from?" Jacob asked curiously.

"We left it outside the door in case your classroom needed redecorating," George said with a grin.

"What should we do with the professor?" Jacob asked.

"I don't think the pink hair looks good. Let's try blue," Fred said changing the hair color. "I meant what should we really do with him?" Jacob asked. "I can't let him down until he admits he's a fraud, but every time I set him on fire, Professor Dumbledore comes running."

"An interesting dilemma," Fred said.

"What do we do with a phony professor?" asked George.

"Do you really know how to set him on fire?" Fred asked.

"I do it fairly often," Jacob said, "But Professor Dumbledore comes down immediately if I do."

"Perfect," said George. "Let's do it and run for it."

Jacob pointed his wand at the ropes and watched a small fire ignite. The three boys ran to the Gryffindor common room. A moment later, Professor Dumbledore joined them.

"May I ask why you're out of class?" he asked them.

"I had vibes that Jacob was losing control of his magic," George said, "So Fred and I ran to get him so he doesn't inflict any harm on innocent professors."

"I understand," said Professor Dumbledore, "but why did you not return back to class?"

"We felt it would be best to stay with young Jacob and make sure he stays calm," Fred said. "After all, a classmate just called him a retard. We can't let anyone hurt our friend."

"I'm assuming that's the boy who is covered in paint," Professor Dumbledore said. "Considering that I just warned him about that behavior last night, he deserved whatever punishment you boys gave him. Has this name calling been going on long?"

"No, last night was the first time," Jacob said. "But he must have always been thinking it."

"I'll leave you in these boys' capable hands," Professor Dumbledore said. "Try not to play with fire."

Jacob spent the afternoon listening to the twins talk. He didn't always understand, but he enjoyed being with them. After a while, George asked how he made Professor Snape laugh.

"I transfigured something into ice cream," Jacob said. "Doesn't everyone like ice cream?"

"You'll have to teach us that trick at dinner," Fred said. "I want to see if I get the same results."

As class ended, more Gryffindors came into the common room. A few noticed Jacob and asked about him, but Fred and George only said that he was a Ravenclaw friend. When Harry walked in, they started singing some silly song about the heir of Slytherin.

"Why are you singing that?" Jacob asked. "He's not the heir."

"Just for fun," Fred said. "He knows we're teasing."

Jacob looked around the common room. He saw a familiar looking red head girl writing in a diary. He pointed the wand in her direction and lifted the diary out of her hand.

"Give it back!" Ginny yelled.

"Hey, let's see what secrets little sister is writing," George said with a grin.

Jacob said the diary on fire. As soon as he did, Professor McGonagall walked into the room. She immediately extinguished the fire and returned the diary to Ginny.

"What do you think you are doing?" Professor McGonagall asked Jacob.

"That diary is evil," Jacob said.

"Do you have any proof?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"No, but I can feel it," Jacob said.

"Unless you have proof, there is no excuse for damaging a student's property," Professor McGonagall said.

"Why is he here?" Percy asked. "Is it because of the petition the Ravenclaws made?"

"No," Professor McGonagall told him. "Students cannot request for removal of dorm mates. However, all the Ravenclaws are already where they should be in Transfiguration and Charms thanks to Jacob. If anyone here needs help, now is the time to ask."

"Isn't he a first year?" Oliver Wood asked.

"Yes, but he can do seventh year work in those subjects," Professor McGonagall bragged.

"Can you show us something?" Katie Bell asked.

Jacob levitated three quills. He transfigured them into knives and set them on fire. He began juggling the knives and fire with his wand. The door opened and Professor Dumbledore walked in.

"I believe I asked you not to play with fire," Professor Dumbledore said while putting out the fires and putting down the knives. "Considering this is the third time today, this is your final warning for the school year. If you ever start another fire, I will be taking back a present I gave you."

"Please don't," Jacob begged. "I need it to talk."

"So don't start any more fires," Professor Dumbledore told him.

He left the common room. Jacob sat quietly while others raved about his performance. At dinner time, he walked with the Gryffindors and sat at their table.

"You're at the wrong table," Penelope told him.

"Young Jacob is giving us transfiguration lessons," Fred said.

"Did he explain what you need to do in exchange for his lessons?" Penelope asked.

"I thought friends help each other," George said. "I wasn't aware that being friends is a business transaction."

Penelope approached Percy. "The rule in Ravenclaw is that if Jacob helps someone with Transfiguration or Charms, they need to help him in a different subject. Your brothers don't agree to that."

"I'll talk to them," Percy said.

Meanwhile, Jacob showed Fred and George how to transfigure their food into ice cream. He transfigured his own food into popcorn. Fred leaned towards the head table and transfigured Professor Snape's food into ice cream. Professor Dumbledore watched with a twinkle in his eye.

"What do I need to do to get ice cream?" He asked Professor Snape.

"I guess Jacob is giving lessons," Professor Snape said.

Professor Dumbledore looked over at the Gryffindor table and pointed to his own plate. George saw and transfigured Professor Dumbledore's food into ice cream.

"Hey, I want some too," Hagrid said.

Professor Dumbledore made eye contact with Jacob and pointed to Hagrid. Jacob transfigured Hagrid's food to ice cream. Professor Lockhart looked over at their table, held up his plate, and grinned. Jacob, Fred, and George exchanged a mischievous look. Fred and George waved their wands towards Professor Lockhart's plate. He saw something that looked dark and rich on his plate and tasted it eagerly. He nearly spit it out as the words, "Eat dirt", formed on his mud pie. Fred and George burst out laughing.

Professor Dumbledore fought back a chuckle as he said, "I guess you and Jacob aren't on the best terms, Gilderoy."

No other professors requested ice cream. After finishing dinner with the Gryffindors, Jacob headed back to the Ravenclaw common room. The room seemed very quiet. Everyone was busy doing homework. Jacob quietly sat down on a couch. When nobody said anything to him, he lay down and turned his mirror face down so he can think privately. He felt a pressure building up inside of him and tried to think of the best way to release it. Before going to Hogwarts, he would have run around the room screaming and flapping his hands. If that didn't work, he would start howling. He had a feeling these behaviors wouldn't go well in Ravenclaw. He realized that magic usually releases some of the pressure he normally feels, but this time it wasn't enough. Pulling the hair and pinching the skin on his mirror didn't replace pulling real hair and hearing people scream, but he would get in trouble if he hurt anyone. He thought about all the toys he used to play with at home. They each fulfilled different needs for him. He decided what he needs most is a toy that makes noise. He thought of his xylophone, keyboard, piano, tambourines, and maracas. He didn't have any of them here. He didn't even have a tape recorder or TV. There was no way to make noise.

He thought about other ways to make noise. He remembered times when he used pots and pans as drums. Sometimes he took them from the cabinet, sometimes from the stove, and sometimes from the fridge. If they weren't empty when he took them out, they were empty by the time he finished with them. He looked around the common room. There were no pots or pans.

He remembered some other objects that made a good drum set. His parents have a cabinet filled with various treasures. Some were antiques that were inherited from grandparents while others were sterling silver objects that they received as presents. Of course, after Jacob used them as drums, they were all in pieces. Mummy took her favorite silver candlestick to several different silversmiths to find out how much it would cost to reconnect all the broken pieces. After hearing the price, she returned it to the cabinet. Every few months, she tried again, hoping to find someone cheaper. Jacob wondered if he would be able to repair it when he came home for the holidays.

After looking around the room, Jacob realized what would make the best drum set.

AN: I'm actually trying to get my broken candlestick repaired this week. If anyone knows of any good silver smiths in or near Lower Manhattan that I didn't call yet, please PM me the info. Thanks.


	12. Chapter 12

Jacob lifted his wand and watched as his caldron flew down the stairway and into his hands.

Padma Patil looked at him curiously. "What potion are you brewing in here?" she asked.

Jacob did a drum roll with his hands on the caldron.

"I guess I should be used to this," Padma said. "Parvati always liked to work to music. I always preferred it to be quiet when I work."

Not liking the way the drum sounded with his hands, Jacob tried using his wand. It sounded much better, except that he only had one wand and two hands. He wordlessly takes Luna's wand and does his drum roll again, using two wands.

"I was going to use my wand," Luna said. "But I guess your drumming will scare away the nargles that were surrounding you until now. I was wondering why they are always attracted to you."

Cho Chang looked at Jacob. "Your drumming isn't bad, but it's hard to work with all the noise."

Her friend Marietta joined in. "You could break the wands if you use it like that. Besides, we're all trying to get some studying done."

Jacob reluctantly returned Luna's wand. He picked up his mirror and said, "Most things that I used for drumsticks over the years broke. My mum has a whole cupboard full of broken valuables that were once either my drums or drumsticks. When I come home for Christmas, I plan to fix everything."

"You're not allowed to do magic outside of school," Cho said.

"Why not?" Jacob asked. "I've been doing it my whole life."

"Aren't your parents muggles?" Luna asked.

"What's that again?" Jacob asked.

Marietta answered, "It means your parents aren't magical."

"My parents aren't magical," Jacob said.

"You could bring things over to my house to fix," Luna said. "My dad is magical."

"How would I get there?" Jacob asked.

"Floo," Luna said.

"What's that?" Jacob wanted to know.

"It won't work for you," Terry Boots said. "Your muggle house isn't connected to the floo network."

"I guess you won't be able to bring things to me, but maybe you could owl it," Luna said.

"I don't have an owl," Jacob complained.

"Wait until you're seventeen," Terry said.

"Where do you live?" Anthony asked.

"London," Jacob answered.

"Bring your stuff to The Leaky Caldron. They won't be able to trace you there," Anthony suggested.

Jacob looked around to see what he could use for drumsticks. He saw that at the table closest to him, Terry Boots, Michael Corner, and Anthony Goldstein were writing essays. Unable to resist, Jacob lifted a wand from the table with his wand.

"Hey, give me back my wand," Terry yelled. "I need it!"

Anthony and Michael laughed. Jacob reluctantly returned the wand and summoned the quill.

"I need my quill too," Terry yelled.

"How are you using your wand and quill the same time?" Jacob asked.

Here's an extra quill," Anthony said.

"You could have one of mine too," Michael offered.

Jacob levitated both quills and transfigured them into drumsticks. He started drumming again.

"Can you stop?" one of the sixth years demanded. "You don't know how hard it is to concentrate on nonverbal spells with all that noise."

A few people laughed.

"What's so funny?" the sixth year said.

"Jacob just summoned his caldron nonverbally. He summoned Luna's wand nonverbally. He returned Luna's wand nonverbally. He summoned Terry's wand nonverbally and returned it before summoning his quill nonverbally which he also returned. He summoned to quills and transfigured them midair to drumsticks. You're complaining that nonverbal spells are hard?" Anthony said fighting back laughter.

Jacob continued drumming.

"Will you stop?" Terry yelled.

When Jacob didn't stop, Terry put his hands on top of the caldron, blocking the drumsticks. Jacob reluctantly put down his sticks in order to pick up his mirror.

"What's the problem?" he asked.

"We can't concentrate on our work with your noise," Terry complained.

"You need to learn to block out everything around you," Jacob said. "Pretend that the only things in the room are you and whatever you are working on. That way you could concentrate on whatever you want wherever you want."

"And that, my friends, is the definition of autism," Michael said with a grin.

Jacob resumed his drumming. Penelope walked over to him and sat down next to him. When Jacob didn't acknowledge her, she put her hands on his caldron. Jacob reluctantly stopped drumming again.

"Now what?" he complained.

"Why do you need to do this?" Penelope asked.

"It's too quiet here," Jacob explained.

"We need it quiet so everyone could work," Penelope told him. "Don't you have any homework?"

"I'm already ahead in Tranfigurations and Charms, and I can't do any reading or writing homework," Jacob whined.

"How about we do some reading lessons?" suggested Penelope.

"No, thank you," Jacob said.

Penelope brought a book over to Jacob.

"What does this say?" she asked him.

"I don't know," said Jacob.

She picked up another book. "What does this say?" she asked.

Jacob put down his mirror to focus on the book. "A," he said. He looked down again and said, "Hiss." He continued looking down and said "tah". He threw the book down in frustration. Several Ravenclaws laughed.

"Very good!" Penelope exclaimed. "You just read a word and a half. It says 'A History of Magic".

Jacob picked up his caldron, drumsticks, and mirror and walked back upstairs. He continued drumming until his roommates came upstairs for the night. He reluctantly put away his drum set and allowed a house elf to get him ready for bed.


	13. Chapter 13

While Jacob was drumming away in the Ravenclaw common room, Fred and George Weasley were having a discussion. Fred thought it would be brilliant to have Jacob switched to their class for Transfiguration and Charms. George thought that Jacob was a bit odd and would ruin their style. They finally decided to consult with the Marauders map.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," they said together.

"I have a question I would like to ask you," Fred said to the map.

Mr. Mooney would like to know what your question is.

"This morning, Professor McGonagall came over to us and told us we are no longer the biggest pranksters in the school," Fred explained.

Mr. Padfoot wants to know if Professor McGonagall wants you to do more pranks.

"That's what we asked her," Fred said. "She wants us to befriend a first year Ravenclaw whose pranks aren't appreciated in the Ravenclaw house."

Mr. Wormtail thinks it is very important to have friends, but if he's a slimy git, stay away from him.

Mr. Prongs thinks this calls for a prank war.

"The problem is," George explained, "Jacob has autism and doesn't really talk. He also doesn't understand much."

Mr. Mooney thinks that's a reason to be friends with him. Mr. Mooney is different from his friends, and they always include him.

"Okay," Fred said. "We'll try."

Fred and George went over to Professor McGonagall's office. They asked if Jacob could take Transfiguration and Charms with them since he is so advanced. Professor McGonagall checked Jacob's schedule and she said "Ok, Jacob has History of Magic and Defense Against Dark Arts when you have Transfiguration. He has History of Magic or Herbology when you have Charms. I'll have to confirm with Professor Dumbledore, but I think he will approve. He's the one who told me that Jacob needs friends."

The next day, Jacob was told his new schedule. During his first Transfiguration class with Fred and George, Jacob quickly finished his assignment and was ready to fool around. Fred and George finished shortly after him and started discussing the usefulness of the spell. They did their best to include Jacob in their discussion.

Jacob got used to his new schedule. He no longer had History of Magic. He only had Defense Against Dark Arts once a week and Herbology twice a week. He slowly learned to follow Fred and George's conversations and even joined in with his mirror occasionally. He spent his evenings drumming in his room, unaware that the other Ravenclaws put a silencing charm on the stairs so they won't hear him. Before he knew it, it was time to go home for Christmas break.

Jacob sat in the prefects' car on the Hogwarts Express. Penelope and Percy were both staying at Hogwarts for Christmas and Jacob didn't really know the other prefects. He sat down on his seat and wished it would be more comfortable. He started eyeing everyone's laps trying to decide whose lap to sit on.

"Don't even think about it," one of the prefects said.

"But these chairs aren't comfortable," Jacob complained.

"Tough," said the prefect.

"Is anyone here over seventeen?" asked Jacob.

"Why do you want to know?" asked the head boy.

"I need to know if any spells I do will be traced to me," Jacob said.

"You could do magic on the Hogwarts Express," a prefect said.

Jacob transfigured his chair into a comfortable armchair. At the request of the prefects, he transfigured their chairs too. He curled up in his chair and closed his eyes until the food trolley came. He quickly jumped to his feet, ready to grab all the chocolate frogs.

"Sit down, Jacob," the head boy said. "I'll buy you what you want."

"I want all the chocolate," Jacob said.

"Save some for other people," the trolley witch said.

The head boy bought five chocolate frogs for Jacob. After eating them, Jacob kept his eyes closed until he reached Kings Cross. He wasn't sleeping, but he knew if he kept his eyes closed, nobody would talk to him, and he wanted time to think.

Jacob ran to his parents as soon as he saw them. He sat quietly the whole way home. The first place he ran when he got inside was the cupboard where the family valuables were kept.

"Can you open this please?" Jacob asked.

"I thought you could open everything yourself," his mother teased.

"I'm not allowed to do magic in the house," Jacob explained.

"Why should I open it? Didn't you break everything already?" Jacob's father complained.

"I know how to fix it, but I can't over here," Jacob said. "If we bring everything to The Leaky Caldron, I can fix it there."

Jacob's mother opened the cupboard and put all the broken valuables into a suitcase. Jacob and his parents went to The Leaky Caldron with the suitcase.

"Do you need a room?" Tom asked when he saw the suitcase.

"No, my son just came home from Hogwarts," Mrs. Frank explained. "We just stopped for drinks."

After placing their orders, Mrs. Frank lifted one piece of silver out at a time while Jacob repaired each piece. All of a sudden, Jacob noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye. With a flick of his wand, a man approaching the table was suddenly bound by ropes.

"I see you caught a thief," Tom said with a grin. "Unfortunately, if you press charges, you will need to explain why you have a suitcase full of silver in your possession. It's best not to explain that you are doing magic outside of school."

"Could you wait until after we are home to untie him?" Jacob asked.

"No problem," Tom said.

The next day, Jacob went with his parents to Granny's and Grandpa's annual holiday party. While Jacob detested his father's mother, he liked his mother's parents and was looking forward to enjoying the party. Jacob ran to the food and helped himself. As he was eating, it occurred to him that all his cousins travel in groups. The oldest group was Josie, Rebecca, and Hannah. As the three big girls, they were treated as pseudo adults and usually either joined the adult conversation or sat in a corner discussing school pranks. Hannah was a big prankster while Josie was constantly getting in trouble for things she insisted was not her fault. Rebecca enjoyed pranks, but didn't stand out as a big prankster. Jacob wondered what her cousins would think of Fred and George. After listening to their conversation for a while, he decided he wasn't interested in joining them. The next group was Debbie, Ellie, Tina, and Sharon. While they greeted Jacob cheerfully, they were too busy running through the house for Jacob to keep track of them. All four of them were very loud, and Jacob did not enjoy their presence. He turned his attention to a group of boy cousins. Jamie, Simon, Danny, Asher and Allen were sitting around a toy train set. While Asher and Allen were focusing on the train, Simon was talking about a magic show he went to. He described the various tricks that the magician did and insisted magic was really even though the others kept telling him that it isn't. Jacob suddenly felt an urge to join the conversation. He sat down next to his cousins. Danny, Asher and Allen glared at him, while Simon made room for him to sit. He pulled out his mirror.

"When I'm seventeen, I could do magic tricks for you," Jacob said.

"How does that device work?" Aunt Sara asked.

Everyone turned to Jacob.

"My school is very advanced in technology," Jacob lied. "My headmaster invented this device by himself. I'm able to send thoughts to this mirror and the mirror verbalizes the thoughts."

"What subjects do you learn?" Aunt Sara asked.

"I have chemistry twice a week. I drive my teacher crazy by trying to taste all the chemicals. I'm supposed to have gardening three times a week, but I drive my teacher crazy enough that I only take it twice a week. I'm supposed to have History every day, but my teacher doesn't like when I throw things at him, so I'm not allowed in that class anymore. There's also astronomy, but that's at night, and I take a sleeping medicine, so I miss astronomy. I have other subjects, but I don't know what they're called," Jacob concentrated on sounding as muggle as possible.

"You throw things at your teacher?" Hannah said with a grin. "I love driving teachers crazy. We should probably get together and trade ideas."

"You should probably get together with Fred and George. They're the two biggest pranksters in the school. They're fourth years, but when I'm not allowed in my class, I join them in theirs," Jacob said.

"Where do they live?" Hannah asked.

"St Ottery something," Jacob said, "But they stayed in school for Christmas."

"I think that's in Devon," Rebecca said. "If they come visit during the summer, let me know."

"How will you do magic tricks when you're seventeen?" Simon asked.

"My school teaches magic tricks to seventh years. Starting from third year, you get to pick subjects that interest you," Jacob said.

For the rest of the party, Jacob alternated between eating and trying to follow his cousins' conversations. At the end of the party, a few relatives commented to the Franks that Jacob really matured and that the school is really good for him. The Franks agreed.


	14. Chapter 14

The next day was Grandma's holiday party. Jacob sat quietly the whole car ride to Grandma's house. He reluctantly got out of the car when he had to. He went to the table and helped himself to a nice amount of food. After eating his share, he looked around and noticed that these cousins also travel in groups. There was a group of girls gathered around playing with some toys. Jacob approached them first. As soon as they saw him coming, they all covered their hair with their hands. One girl started crying. Aunt Susie came over and yelled at Jacob. "Don't ever go near Rita's hair," she scolded.

Jacob approached a group of younger boys. They were busy building with a lego set. As soon as they saw him, one boy said, "You can't touch any of the legos. We're using all of them."

The older boys were sitting near the adults. Jacob sat down on his mother's lap.

"It's a shame Jacob couldn't stay in school for the holidays," Grandma said.

"He could have," Mrs. Frank said. "I wanted him home."

"You're so foolish," Grandma said. "Now you and David have to go without sleep for a while."

"He's sleeping fine," Mrs. Frank said. "He takes a sleeping medicine every night."

"Yes, but you can't relax with Jacob around," Grandma said. "You should look into institutions for him. He will never be anything anyways. He will never get a job, never get married, and never do anything positive. As he gets older, he will get more difficult."

"Actually," Mrs. Frank said calmly, "I'm busy looking for an institution for you. You will never be anything. You haven't worked in years, you were widowed for so long with no chance of getting married again since you're so selfish, and you never say anything positive. As you get older, you get more difficult."

"At least I could talk. Jacob will never talk," Grandma insisted.

Jacob took out his mirror. "Of course, I could talk," he said.

"That's not you talking. It's that device. You will never learn to talk if you rely on the device," Grandma said.

"Can we leave now?" Jacob asked fighting back tears.

"Yes, let's go," Mrs. Frank said.

Jacob tried to calm himself as the car turned away from Privet Drive, but he couldn't. As they headed out of Surrey towards London, Mrs. Frank said, "I think we may need to take Jacob to The Leaky Caldron."

Mr. Frank parked in front of the store, and the three of them walked in. Mrs. Frank ran to Tom.

"I'm sorry to bother you again," she said, "But my son is in danger of losing control of his magic. My mother-in-law was insulting him for a while, and he's going to explode. I don't think my house can handle the explosion."

Tom led them to an empty room. A ball of fire immediately appeared and disappeared. Professor Dumbledore ran into The Leaky Caldron.

"Excuse me, Tom," Professor Dumbledore said, "But I believe a boy named Jacob Frank just set your place on fire."

"His grandmother was insulting him," Tom explained. "He needed to explode and needed a safe place."

Professor Dumbledore approached Mr. and Mrs. Frank. "What happened?" he asked.

"My mother-in-law was insulting him," Mrs. Frank said.

"I heard about her tendency to that," Professor Dumbledore said. "Where does she live?"

"Little Whinging, Surrey," Mr. Frank told him.

"Interesting," Professor Dumbledore said. "There is another student in the school, who lives there, on Privet Drive, but his family isn't magical and they are not very nice to him."

"It seems that on Privet Drive, there is an emphasis on being like everyone else over there," Mrs. Frank complained. "My mother-in-law was never nice to Jacob."

"Maybe you shouldn't visit her anymore," Professor Dumbledore suggested.

"I've been saying that for the last nine years," complained Mrs. Frank.

The Franks agreed not to bring Jacob to his grandma anymore.

The rest of the holiday passed quickly with Jacob finding things to do at home. He was excited to board the Hogwarts Express and go back to school. He tried to behave himself for the whole train ride.

Jacob quickly got back into his routine, taking classes with his year and fourth year Gryffindors. He continued drumming every night and managed not to set Professor Lockhart on fire. He heard about attacks in school but wasn't very concerned. One night, as he was drumming, a bunch of angry Ravenclaws approached him.

"How can you drum at a time like this?" one of them yelled.

"What's the problem?" Jacob asked.

"Didn't you hear about Penelope?" someone asked him.

"Maybe the drumming will wake her up," suggested Jacob.

"No it won't," Terry yelled at him. "Now stop."

"She's going to be fine," Jacob said. "As soon as the mandrakes are ready, she'll be better."

"Don't you care that Professor Dumbledore isn't at the school anymore?" someone asked.

"He'll be back," Jacob said confidently. "When there's another attack the governors will ask him back."

"You want there to be another attack?" Jacob was asked.

"No, and maybe there won't be," said Jacob.

"Don't you care about anything?" Terry asked.

"I care that I want to play my drums now and nobody is letting me," Jacob said. "When you feel stress, you need to let it out, and Professor Dumbledore said I'm not allowed to set people on fire anymore."

Jacob got used to the change in routines quickly. Students were walked to classes by professors and there were no outside activities. Jacob didn't care as he never bothered going to a Quiddich game anyway. Professor Lockhart was being his usual obnoxious self.

"All these precautions are silly," he said. "Hagrid's locked up. The monster is under control."

Jacob flicked his wand and watched as Professor Lockhart was bound in ropes.

"No Professor Dumbledore to save you now," Jacob said with a grin.

"Class dismissed," Professor Lockhart. "Release me please."


	15. Chapter 15

Jacob wasn't bothered by the changes in the school. He wasn't even bothered when they announced there was another attack and the school will have to close. He went to the Ravenclaw common room with the rest of his house. Everyone was sad and serious as they started packing to go home. Jacob didn't pack. He took out his drums.

"What's wrong with you?" someone yelled. "Don't you care that Ginny is dead and the school has to close?"

"Ginny's not dead," Jacob said. "She's possessed. Harry and Ron will go into the chamber of secrets and save her. The school will stay open."

Everyone looked at Jacob as if he's crazy. After his prediction came true, everyone gathered in the great hall for a celebration. Jacob was the only student who hugged Professor Dumbledore when he saw him.

The train ride home was a quiet affair. Jacob sat with the prefects and tried to keep his eyes closed the whole time. He ate his chocolate frogs and thought his upcoming summer.

Summer was long and hard. Jacob stayed outdoors as much as possible, but his mother wouldn't let him go outside unsupervised. It was easier than the previous summer since Jacob now had a way to communicate his feelings, but lack of structure is hard for Jacob, and he was eager to board the Hogwarts Express in September.

Jacob sat quietly the whole train ride. Percy was the head boy and he was being somewhat annoying. Jacob was happy when he finally got to school.

Jacob liked the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher. Professor Lupin really taught the class, not like Lockhart. Jacob was excused from History of Magic again since Professor Binns did not enjoy Jacob's presence. Instead, he joined Fred and George in whichever class they were in at the time. The only big incidence happened when Sirius Black came to the castle.

All students were gathered in the great hall with sleeping bags. Jacob was together with all the other Ravenclaw second years. The third years were nearby.

"Where do you think Sirius is?" Luna asked Jacob.

"He's gone," Jacob said. "The only one we have to worry about is Ron Weasley's rat." "You're crazy," Terry Boots sneered. "You have something against the Weasleys."

This time, Jacob did not have the satisfaction of knowing that he's right. The story of Sirius and Peter was kept quiet.

Another uneventful summer passed followed by another school year. Jacob did not sign up for any third year electives so he had several free periods to hang out with Fred and George. Since Fred and George each received three OWLs, they also had lots of free time. The new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher was Professor Moody. Jacob took an immediate dislike to the teacher. The first day, Moody put three spiders on his desk and started talking about unforgivable curses. Jacob immediately grabbed his wand.

"Wand down Mr. Frank," Professor Moody said.

"Mr. Frank is my daddy's name," explained Jacob.

"We sons are unfortunate enough to share our fathers' names," Professor Moody told him.

"My name is Jacob," Jacob stated.

"Okay Jacob," Professor Moody said with a grin, "after your classmates tell us about unforgivable curses, you may try them on the spiders."

"I like spiders," Jacob said. "I'd rather try the curses on you."

Professor Moody laughed.

"How about the two of us have a duel after I show the curses," suggested Professor Moody.

Jacob watched one spider turn somersaults, one spider act like it was in pain, and one spider die. Finally it was time to duel.

"No unforgivable curses, no killing, and nothing that hurts," Professor Moody said.

Jacob allowed Professor Moody to shake his hand. He shot a variety of hexes at Moody who managed to shield most of them. Jacob moved out of the way of all of Moody's hexes while firing his own. Finally, he got Moody in ropes for a few seconds, before Moody broke out and announced that the demonstration is over.

"The spell I used to block the hexes is called a shield charm. The incantation is 'protego'," Moody told them.

"Let me see you try it," he told Jacob.

Jacob wordlessly produced a shield.

"Good for you!" Professor Moody cheered. "You could be a champion dueler one day."

The next time Jacob had Defense Against Dark Arts, Professor Moody announced that he will do the imperious curse on each student. When it was Jacob's turn, Jacob crossed his arms and glared at Moody. He felt a funny sensation and started to do a somersault. He stopped while upside-down and fell on his head.

"You resisted," Moody cheered. "Come try again."

Jacob grabbed his mirror. "How about I do it on you?" he challenged.

"Go ahead," Moody said. "I doubt you're strong enough."

Jacob picked up his wand. The whole class laughed as Professor Moody started tap dancing on the ceiling. He stopped mid step and started tumbling down, landing on his feet.

"You got me," he admitted. "I wasn't expecting it to work so I didn't fight right away. Good job!"

After that, Jacob didn't mind Moody's class anymore.

The rest of the year passed without any incidences that aroused Jacob's concern. Even the night Cedric died, Jacob continued playing his drums. When asked if he cares that Cedric died, Jacob commented that he didn't know him. Cho took the death very hard. It bothered Jacob to see how sad Cho was, so he comforted her the only way he knew how. He gave her a hug. The temptation of her hair was too much, and for the first time since his first year of Hogwarts, Jacob pulled a fellow student's hair. Most of the Ravenclaws did not try to hide their disgust at Jacob's behaviors. The year ended on a sad note, but Jacob still looked forward to going back the next year.

The next year, Jacob had Professor Umbridge for Defense Against Dark Arts. Jacob was disappointed when Umbridge said to put the wands away. He sat while Umbridge talked about nothing important.

"Why aren't you writing anything down?" Umbridge snapped at Jacob.

"I don't know how to write," Jacob explained.

"What games are you playing, having your voice come out of the mirror?" snapped Umbridge.

"I have autism," explained Jacob. "It's hard for me to talk the regular way so I use this to talk."

"Put it away and take out a quill and parchment," ordered Umbridge.

Jacob picked up his bag and put it on his desk. He stuck his mirror in and rummaged around for his wand. The next thing Umbridge knew, she was hanging upside-down from ropes on the ceiling. She struggled to get out her wand and burst into flames. Professor Dumbledore ran into the room and put out the fire.

"Come with me Jacob," he said. "You know the consequence."

Jacob burst into tears and started walking towards Professor Dumbldeore.

"I prefer to give him detention myself," Umbridge said.

"Usually I handle Jacob's detentions on the spot. They are longer and harsher than most students' detentions. I do this for the safety of the teachers," Professor Dumbledore lied.

"I'm giving him detention," Umbridge insisted. "Seven o'clock tonight."

At seven o'clock, Jacob was in his room playing his drums. At seven fifteen, Umbridge began her journey to the Ravenclaw common room to find out why Jacob didn't show.

"Where's Jacob Frank?" Umbridge demanded.

"Who is Jacob Frank?" Anthony asked innocently.

"The year below you," Umbridge snarled.

"I don't know him," Michael insisted.

"Where are the fourth years?" Umbridge wanted to know.

They all raised their hands meekly.

"Do any of you know where Jacob is?" she asked.

"Last I saw him, he was in the great hall at dinner conversing with the wrackspurts and gnargles," Luna lied.

"Someone check if he is in his dormitory," Umbridge demanded.

"I'll go," volunteered Michael.

"I thought you don't know him," Umbridge said.

"I don't," Michael lied, "but I know where the fourth years sleep."

Michael went upstairs and told Jacob that the toad came for him. Jacob came down, wand in hand. He pointed his wand at Umbridge and pocketed it.

"I got you back safely," Umbridge told him. "Behave in class so you won't have detention again."

She walked out of the room.

"What did you do?" Michael asked.

Jacob realized he left his mirror upstairs. He summoned it with his wand and said, "Memory charm".

All the Ravenclaws laughed. The war between Jacob and Umbridge has officially begun, and everyone who knew Jacob knew who the winner would be.


	16. Chapter 16

The next day, as soon as Umbridge began to tell Jacob's class to put their wands away, she found herself hanging upside-down from the ceiling, immobile and unable to speak.

"Does anyone have any requests for specific hexes?" Jacob asked his classmates.

"We'll get in trouble," someone said.

"No we won't," Jacob assured him. "I'll do a memory charm at the end of class."

"Remember when you put Moody under an imperious curse?" another classmate reminded everyone.

Jacob grinned. With a wave of his wand, Umbridge was once again standing on the floor, mobile and untied.

"What do you want me to have her do?" Jacob asked.

"I don't believe you that she's under," a critical voice said.

With a grin, Jacob waved his wand. Umbridge started dancing around the room singing, "I am an idiot" over and over again. The whole class started laughing uncontrollably.

"Now what do you want her to do?" Jacob asked.

"We still need to learn the material to pass the test," one goody-goody complained.

"She wasn't teaching us anything," argued Jacob. "Besides, if she gives the test, it's a joke. She doesn't know as much as we do about her subject. Anyone who knows how to read can read later."

"Can we show her off?" another classmate requested.

Jacob opened the door and had Umbridge dance through the hallways singing, "I am an idiot." All the fourth year Ravenclaws followed, laughing hysterically. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick peeked out, saw what was going on, and went back to their own classes. Fred and George Weasley joined the Ravenclaws and suggested different acrobatic moves to have Umbridge do. Jacob eagerly fulfilled their requests. They were all laughing so hard, they didn't notice Professor Dumbledore. When he finally got their attention, he looked more amused than upset.

"If I find out that any unforgivable curses are being used, somebody will be in big trouble," he said gently. "Stay in your classroom."

Jacob had Umbridge lead the class inside. He continued taking suggestions for Umbridge's actions until class was over. He removed the curse, planted a false memory of her teaching the class with perfect behavior, and walked out.

All the Ravenclaws from other years heard about Jacob's antics that evening. Most were upset at Umbridge for not teaching her subject and felt she deserved Jacob's abuse. Some were concerned about Jacob's behavior and felt that it's never okay to hex a teacher.

For the rest of the year, Jacob continued taking requests about what to do to Umbridge. Most days were not unforgivable curses. Jacob refused to do anything that causes physical pain, but agreed to what he considered to be harmless hexes. At the end of each class, he did a memory charm so that Umbridge wouldn't know what was done to her. The fall semester passed quickly, and before Jacob knew it, he was on the Hogwarts Express going home for Christmas.

Jacob hasn't paid attention to the prefects after his first year. He noticed there were always some new prefects and some old ones, but he never paid attention to who they were. This time, the prefects paid attention to him.

"That's him," Anthony told Hermione.

"It's not safe to talk here," Herminone said, looking at Malfoy.

"Let's take him to another compartment," Anthony said. "He could sit with me, Michael and Terry."

"Am I allowed to sit where I want?" Jacob asked.

"You need to be with a prefect, head boy, or head girl at all times," Anthony told him. "But prefects only have to start out in the front. After we meet, we could go where we want. I could take you to sit with my friends."

Jacob followed Anthony and Hermione into another compartment where he found Michael, Terry, Neville, Cho, Marietta and Luna.

"I wonder what happened to the Weasleys," Hermione said. "They all disappeared last night along with Harry."

"Mr. Weasley was attacked," Jacob told her. "They were rushed home during the night for safety reasons."

Hermione addressed Jacob. "We have a group called Dumbledore's army," she told him. "We practice basic defense moves that we can use against Voldermort. Luna mentioned that you're very good at Defense Against Dark Arts, almost as good as Harry. Are you interested in joining?"

"What would I do?" Jacob asked.

"Practice different spells and hexes with us," she said.

"I could already do every spell and hex nonverbally," said Jacob. "Did Luna tell you what I do to Professor Umbridge?"

"Yes," Hermione said. "But we're not doing memory charms. There are too many risks. Professor Lockhart completely lost his memory from it."

"I'm careful when I do it," Jacob said. "I only remove what needs to be removed and replace it with what should have been there. I also do other things to Umbridge."

"We're not doing unforgivable curses," Hermione said.

"Why not?" asked Jacob. "The imperious curse is so much fun."

"It's also illegal," Hermione told him.

"I just make her walk around singing 'I am an idiot," Jacob said.

"Can you do that during my class one day?" Anthony and Michael requested.

"If you ever have Umbridge during one of my free periods," Jacob offered.

"It's still not appropriate," Hermione complained. "We're talking about defending ourselves, not hurting others."

"I do it to defend myself," Jacob said. "Umbridge wants to take away my ability to talk."

"You're still playing with fire," Hermione said.

"I don't do it anymore," complained Jacob. "Professor Dumbledore doesn't let."

"You just did it yesterday," Luna offered.

"I haven't set her on fire in months," Jacob insisted.

"You set Umbridge on fire?" gasped Hermione.

"She deserved it," Jacob said, "but Professor Dumbledore put out the fire and was going to punish me. Professor Umbridge said she wants to do it herself and gave me detention. I modified her memory so that she thought I served the detention."

"If you join us, you'll have to go by our rules," Hermione said.

"I'm not joining you for meetings," Jacob said, "but I'll fight with you during the battle of Hogwarts."

"When will that be?" asked Luna.

"In two and a half years," Jacob said.

"He's nuts," Hermione said.

"I believe him," Luna said.

"Well, let's see," Terry said. "His first year, he kept insisting that Ginny's diary was possessing her and opening the chamber of secrets. We have no proof that it's true."

"He's right!" Hermione gasped. "But it wasn't publicized."

"The next year, he said that Sirius is innocent and that Ron's rat is dangerous," Terry scoffed.

"Right again," gasped Hermione. "How did you know?"

"Now he's saying that in two and a half years, you-know-who will attack Hogwarts. What will he do until then?" Terry asked.

"This year, he's trying to get something from the department of mysteries. Next year, he's having Dumbledore and other people killed. The year after that, he's taking control of the ministry," Jacob said.

"He's crazy," Hermione said to Neville. "Let's sit somewhere else."

Hermione and Neville left the compartment. Anthony, Michael and Terry gave Jacob strange looks the rest of the ride home while Luna complained about wrackspurts.


	17. Chapter 17

When Jacob came back to school after the holidays, Umbridge was even worse. She had first observed all the fifth year Gryffindor classes, driving teachers and students crazy. After that, she watched all the seventh year classes. Finally, she started watching all the fifth year Ravenclaw classes.

The first class Jacob had to deal with her was Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall ignored Umbridge and taught the class what their assignment for the day. The second Jacob finished his, McGonagall told him his next task.

"Ahem," Umbridge said. "Is it wise to have him go ahead?"

"Yes it is," Professor McGonagall told her. "Jacob is on a higher level than the rest of the school and it's not fair to hold him back."

"Don't you believe in following the curriculum?" Umbridge asked.

Before Professor McGonagall could answer, Umbridge was dangling upside-down in front of the classroom from a rope held to the ceiling.

"Any requests?" Jacob asked.

"Show Professor McGonagall the idiot," urged a classmate.

Umbridge immediately started dancing around the classroom singing, "I am an idiot."

"Don't you get in trouble when you do that?" Professor McGonagall asked shocked.

"Of course not," Jacob said. "I plant a false memory in her mind of a perfectly behaved class where she taught her entire lesson. I don't always do the same spells. I take requests from classmates. Do you have any requests?"

"Did you ever try human transfiguration?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Umbridge turned into a toad and started hopping around the room. The whole class laughed.

"Now change her back," urged Professor McGonagall.

The toad disappeared and Umbridge reappeared.

"You're really not supposed to be hexing a teacher," reprimanded Professor McGonagall, "but we all know she deserves it. Could you remove the imperious curse and put a good memory of her observation today?"

Jacob did.

"You seem to have control over this class," Umbridge said. "The learning is aligned with the curriculum and all students were on target."

She left the room.

"Ten points to Ravenclaw for successful human transfiguration," Professor McGonagall said.

The next time Umbridge observed Jacob's class was during Charms. Jacob finished his charm first, and Professor Flitwick told him another charm to do.

"Is it wise to have him go ahead?" Umbridge asked.

"Yes it is," Professor Flitwick said. "He's going to do more advanced charms anyway so he may as well learn to do it correctly."

"What about the curriculum?" Umbridge asked.

Before Professor Flitwick could answer, Umbridge was dancing around the room singing, "I am an idiot."

"You're not supposed to do unforgivable curses," Professor Flitwick said.

"I don't always," Jacob told him. "I take requests from my classmates for any hex, curse, charm or transfiguration. At the end of each class, I remove the memory and replace it with a perfectly behaved class."

"Can I see?" asked Professor Flitwick.

Jacob lifted the curse.

"You're class is very orderly and advanced," Umbridge said. "Keep up the good work."

She walked out of the room.

"Fifty points to Ravenclaw," Professor Flitwick said. "Putting in false memories is very advanced magic that most people can't do."

When Umbridge observed Potions class, Jacob realized it would be the first time the Hufflepuffs saw his Umbridge treatment. He waited for Umbridge to deserve it and started his potion.

"Not in your mouth Jacob," Professor Snape said.

"Do you think it's wise to have such a disabled child in class?" Umbridge asked.

Professor Snape glared but started laughing as Umbridge danced around the room singing "I am an idiot."

The Hufflepuffs were rolling on the floor laughing. They never realized this was how the Ravenclaws survived Umbridge's class. Professor Snape stopped laughing and glared at Jacob.

"Five points from Ravenclaw!" he snapped. "Don't ever make me laugh in class again."

The Hufflepuffs continued laughing.

"Five points from Hufflepuff!" said Professor Snape. "Stop that silly laughing. The Ravenclaws are able to remain serious."

"That's because we saw this every day for the whole year and get the opportunity to put in requests for Umbridge's behavior," one cheeky Ravenclaw said.

"And what happens at the end of class?" asked Professor Snape.

"I remove the memory and plant one of a perfectly behaved class instead," Jacob said.

"Make her think I'm the best teacher in the school," Professor Snape said. "I don't want to see her down here again."

"It's very nice to see such competency," Umbridge said. "You are the example of a perfect teacher. I wish all teachers maintained your high standards."

She walked out of the room.

"Five points for Ravenclaw," Professor Snape said. "Now get back to your potions."

Jacob had Herbology with Slytherin. Because many Slytherins were on the inquisition squad, several Ravenclaws advised Jacob to try to behave this time. Umbridge sat quietly in the back of the greenhouse.

"Be gentle with your plant Jacob," reminded Professor Sprout. "The leaves are vital and should not be torn."

"Do you think Jacob belongs in this class?" asked Umbridge.

She immediately started dancing around the greenhouse singing, "I am an idiot."

The slytherins all started laughing. One brave member of the inquisition squad approached Jacob.

"I'm deducting points for this," he said. Before he got the chance, he was marching behind Umbridge and chanting along with her.

"It's one thing to curse Umbridge, but you can't curse your fellow students," Professor Sprout said.

Jacob removed the curses and modified memories.

"Good class," Umbridge said as she left the greenhouse. "Those Ravenclaws are really doing a good job, and you were very patient with the Slytherins. If they wouldn't be so squeamish, they would be very good at herbology."

After that, Jacob only saw Umbridge during Defense Against Dark Arts where he controlled the class.


	18. Chapter 18

School continued as usual for Jacob. He continued to prank Umbridge and enjoyed the rest of his classes. When Professor Dumbledore left the school and Umbridge appointed herself headmistress, Jacob realized he could once again set her on fire. He was always careful to control the fire so that she will feel it and fear it but not get burned. Of course, he modified her memory at the end of each class.

Jacob was very disappointed when Fred and George left school. He wished he could go with them but knew he couldn't since he was still underage. He eagerly continued the prank war. He sat in Umbridge's class for all first through fourth years except Slytherin, figuring the older students could control Umbridge the same way he could, and Slytherin would not appreciate his antics. He occasionally had Umbridge walk around the school singing her "I am an idiot" song. He enjoyed his prank war and was disappointed when the school year ended, although he was happy Professor Dumbledore was back.

The next year, some of the prefects were from Jacob's year. Jacob felt funny sitting with them as if they needed to baby-sit him. Anthony took him away as soon as he was able to, and Jacob sat with Anthony, Michael, and Terry for the rest of the trip.

Jacob wasn't sure what to think of Professor Slughorn. While he noticed that Jacob's potions were always perfect, he seemed weirded out by Jacob's differences. Jacob enjoyed having Professor Snape for Defense Against Dark Arts. Of course, Jacob was able to do everything easily, and when they were paired up to practice hexes, nobody wanted to be Jacob's victim. Professor Snape solved the problem by setting up a rotation so that everyone will have a turn against Jacob. He explained that because Jacob is so advanced, whoever is paired with him that day will learn a lot more than anyone else.

The year passed quickly until Professor Dumbledore's death at the end of the year. Jacob didn't bother going to the funeral, however, when he heard the phoenix sing, he started crying and couldn't stop. The other Ravenclaws were teary eyed too when they returned from the funeral, but Jacob sobbed uncontrollably for a long time.

The next year was unlike any year Jacob ever had. When he boarded the Hogwarts Express, Draco Malfoy said, "You're going to regret coming, mudblood."

Jacob had his wand ready and he used it.

"Oh, that's right," Malfoy said. "Your father is one of the dark Lord's top supporters. You'll love all the changes that are happening now."

Anthony removed Jacob from the compartment as soon as he was able to.

"This year will be difficult," Anthony told him. "There are laws against muggleborns. Most muggle born students are in hiding. I know you are good at planting false memories, but I'm concerned about your safety."

"I'll take care of myself," Jacob said.

"Will you take care of everyone else too?" asked Terry.

"If I have to," said Jacob.

In the great hall, the Carrows asked each student for their blood status. When they got up to Jacob, he didn't bother answering. He simply waved his wand.

"I know who you are!" one of the Carrows exclaimed. "You're father is close to the minister of magic!"

The professors exchanged amused looks. Professor Snape sat passively watching everything going on. As the muggle born first years were removed from the great hall, Luna asked Jacob if he could do something about it.

"This is a little too complex," Jacob said. "The world's biggest idiot is expecting the muggle borns tonight. Even if I do memory charms on the Carrows, someone else will come for them. We're not ready for a full fight yet."

"Could you at least do an idiot performance?" asked Michael.

Jacob flicked his wand and watched both Professor Carrows walk around the hall chanting, "We are idiots."

The Slytherins ran over, trying to stop him, but ended up forming a procession behind the Carrows and joining the chanting. Professor Snape sat impassively at the head table.

"What about Snape?" asked Michael.

"He's okay," Jacob said.

"No he isn't," insisted Michael. "He killed Dumbledore."

"He's not trying to stop me," said Jacob.

"That's because he knows what you would do to him," said Luna.

"I would never hurt Professor Snape," said Jacob. "He's the only professor who noticed I am a person with feelings."

After the procession circled the great hall several times, Jacob lifted the curse and modified memories.

"Do Snape," urged Terry.

"I trust him," insisted Jacob.

Instead of taking all his classes, Jacob spent as much time as possible in Dark Arts (no longer called defense). He knew he couldn't be there when the Slytherins were there, and sixth and seventh years took all houses together since not many students took it on a NEWT level, but he did his best to protect first through fifth years in the three good houses. Professor Carrow wanted students to practice the cruciatus curse on students who earned detentions, mostly Gryffindors. Jacob changed it so that everyone practiced hexes of their choice on Carrow. He also occasionally did the "I am an idiot" routine to keep his fellow students amused. Students still suffered terribly that year. The Carrows often gave detentions during sixth and seventh year classes thinking that the curses would be more powerful. The Slytherins enjoyed the power they had to torture other students. Jacob did his best to keep as many people safe as possible, but recognized the limitations on his powers. None of the professors made any effort to stop Jacob although they all wondered why Professor Snape didn't try to rein him in. It was a long year, and Jacob was relieved when it was finally time for the famous battle of Hogwarts.

Jacob sat calmly at his table as younger students and Slytherins were led to safety. He knew he would fight a good fight and hoped to take down Voldermort. As soon as the fighting began, he ran out setting as many death eaters on fire as possible. He did not stay to watch how many put out the fires themselves, how many were rescued, or how many died. He kept on going until he reached the Whomping Willow. It took a while for Jacob to enter the passage to the Shrieking Shack. He kept getting stopped by death eaters and had to do hexes other than his fire hexes as too many death eaters were able to put out the fire. He eventually made his way over to where Voldermort was talking to Professor Snape. He quickly set Voldermort on fire. Voldermort easily put out the fire and tried to crucio Jacob. Jacob dodged the curse and tried the imperious curse.

"Who is this brat?" Voldermort yelled at Snape. "Can't you control him?"

"Stupefy," yelled Professor Snape. But instead of doing a stunning spell, he made Jacob invisible. Jacob watched Voldermort kill Professor Snape. He watched silently as Snape gave his memories to Harry. Finally, he sat down next to his dying professor.

"I'm going to change," Jacob said quietly using his mirror. "I'm going home, and I'm only going to use my mirror when I have to. I will repeat what the mirror says so I can learn to speak correctly. I will take all my therapies seriously and learn to read and write.

"The last six years were fun, but this isn't really what life is about. Sure, I love hexing professors, but what good is that? What difference does it make in this world? You told me I was talented, but what use is my talents? You said I will be successful, but how can I be if I can't talk, read or write? I'm going back to a muggle lifestyle and muggle therapies. It's the only way I can be successful, and if living well is the best revenge, I need an amazing life."

Jacob watched as he became visible again as Professor Snape died. He apparated back home and told his parents his plans. He enrolled in speech therapy five times a week and with lots of hard work learned to speak as clearly as everyone else by the end of the summer. The next year, he focused on increasing his vocabulary and using complex sentences. When he mastered that, he learned to read and write. Finally, he invested himself in learning all the skills he can for the profession of his choice, however, I cannot tell you what that profession is, since Jacob is my six-year-old son, and this whole story is a tired mommy wishing for a way to magically make life easier for her special child before finally accepting that it will take a lot of hard work to help 'Jacob' reach his full potential. Thank you for reading, and thank you to my neurotypical eight-year-old for pressuring me to write this story.


End file.
